This possible deal deserves serious consideration.
So says Greater Media Chairman/CEO Peter Smyth in his monthly online column, in which he delves into the performance rights issue.
In a column titled “A Royal(ty) Opportunity?” Smyth writes: “I don’t want our company to pay a 1% net revenue fee for the ‘privilege’ of promoting artists and their music. But when you move beyond the rhetoric and look closely at the proposed terms that are under discussion, it seems clear: The conceptual framework provided by NAB’s leadership team is something that the leaders and owners in this great business should seriously consider.”
“It would be a huge miscalculation if we do not at least continue a dialogue that might provide the regulatory certainty needed to reopen access to capital and provide long-term opportunities for growth,” Smyth wrote.
In his mind, getting the “unpredictable” Copyright Royalty Board out of the equation as proposed would be a plus.
In all, Smyth says, there may come a day — maybe not this year, and maybe not next year, but in the foreseeable future — when Congress moves forward and legislates a performance tax of 5% or more on radio revenues.
“If that happens, my guess is that our peers of tomorrow will judge quite harshly a decision to pass up the opportunity that presents itself today.”
The column is here.
